Fiberglass

[Billy Jinx]

I will never be using that garbage again. I tried using it to reshape my quarters, I have burned through over 3 gallons of bondo...To be fair most of that ended up sanded off but it's still a waste of time. I figured I could do it as a fast temporary body tweak on my car but it has taken me too many hours and i'm still not done. Steel and filler would have been a lot faster.

It's all comming off now. I will finish my intake and drive it to my buddy's house and weld on some sheet metal. I have no exhaust on that car, not even headers yet, and my floor pan has all the rust spots cut out and not patched yet so if by chance I die of carbon monoxide poisoning...well then, tootles everybody.

 

...That was a joke. I don't think I will die.

 

Any way I'm pissed and I feel like ranting on here.

 

You know what else? Two chips of my air chisel hit me in the forehead, one lodged into and under my skin, that was fun to get out, another had some sort of bearing grease on it or something because it gave me a nice bloody gash that healed but got infected after healing. It won't go away either.

 

I am going to get blitzed tonight.

[DreamBoat]

Steel and body filler man thats the way to go. Plus you can use your bare hands, hope you didnt make the mistake of touching the fiber glass with no gloves.

[Billy Jinx]

What are gloves? hahaha. I used the cloth over chicken wire, It's easyer to get the resin into than the mat stuff, then I coated it with a generous portion of Tigerhair, then Bondo Bondo Bondo. The thing is it looks like s*** still and is taking forever. So much for the "quick temporary" idea. I just want this f***** on the road asap.

 

The best part was doing the Tigerhair bare handed, I looked like I had Swamp Thing's hands for several hours. I just let it dry and spent an hour or 2 peeling it off.

[ducman491]

It's nasty stuff. I used it in the 90's to make subwoofer enclosures. The looked cool but I lost a lot brain.....what, where am I.

[Electra Rose]

I dealt with it once while working on a Yamaha and I swore to never do it again! It got everywhere [including my hair, somehow], made a giant mess and looked like s***! Hated it!

When it comes to the Bonneville I am going the OLD fashion route, welding it in! lol

[Billy Jinx]

I'm sure if I get my next project in the works for Bonneville I will break my vow, but I can use existing panels to make molds. This current task is to change the shape of existing panels. For my next project I have a '61 corvair which is already light as hell, I want to drop it on a frame (reinforced monte carlo perhaps) and for weight reasons I have considered making molds of the entire front end and making a fiberglass foreward tilt front end. Better engine access and lighter too....yes I would make the corvair a front engine car if i ever get around to it. I want to make it retardedly fast but I don't want to lose control and die. So in like 30 years you'll see me at Bonneville hahaha

[Electra Rose]

Molding the whole front end would be a lot of work, but worth it!That would be one sick ass Corvair!! The engine in the front might be wonky (and piss off some purists) but it would get up and go!!
I would love to see that run the flats! 

Billy Jinx said:

I'm sure if I get my next project in the works for Bonneville I will break my vow, but I can use existing panels to make molds. This current task is to change the shape of existing panels. For my next project I have a '61 corvair which is already light as hell, I want to drop it on a frame (reinforced monte carlo perhaps) and for weight reasons I have considered making molds of the entire front end and making a fiberglass foreward tilt front end. Better engine access and lighter too....yes I would make the corvair a front engine car if i ever get around to it. I want to make it retardedly fast but I don't want to lose control and die. So in like 30 years you'll see me at Bonneville hahaha

[Tommy G]

Fiberglass is for kit cars.   Metal is for hot rodders.

[Billy Jinx]

Ed Roth would disagree.

 

As for my use on the Chrysler it was a failed attempt to get stuff done fast and temporarily for this summer It looks like hell so I'm starting over with sheet metal like I wanted to do any way.

 

Making panels out of fiberglass has been done on the strips and the flats forever. It's light and strong. A lot of the old gassers used fiberglass fronts. If I get some good practice I will be making the front of my corvair out of fiberglass....it's not really a kit if I am making the molds with existing body panels and hand forming the whole thing myself. My intention with the Corvair is speed. This will be far enough in the future that I can get some practice first.

[ducman491]

Full credit to you for trying it. That is a mountain of work but the results would be cool. I only used glad when I could make a free flowing sub enclosure and symmetry wasn't paramount.

[Billy Jinx]

I heard from a kid who did tuners and all that stuff that you can cover a panel with petrolium jelly then spray foam to make a mold. I'm going to give that a try when I get around to the corvair (number 3 on my project list and I work mostly on a dirt driveway haha)